MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF NUCLEATED POLYPROPYLENE AND SHORT GLASS FIBER-POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITES

The ultimate strength and the Young's modulus of polypropylene (PP) an d the short glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (GRPP) increased in t he presence of a heterogeneous nucleating agent. The incorporation of the nucleating agent resulted in a significant improvement in the crys tallization of the polypropylene homopolymer. The short glass fibers n ucleated the polypropylene matrix to the extent that the crystallizati on and morphology of the matrix differ appreciably from the homopolyme r. The strength-to-break and the Young's modulus of the sodium benzoat e nucleated polypropylene (NPP), nucleated short glass fiber reinforce d polypropylene (NGRPP) and the non-nucleated samples, increased with decreased temperature. The nucleated composites showed decreased inter facial shear strength and increased Young's modulus. Copyright (C) 199 6 Elsevier Science Ltd